The aim of the site is to provide all the information you need about the club and its activities.

To find out how to join or renew your membership go to our membership page.

To find out how to contact us or find out where we are go to our contacts page.

To check court availability or book a court go to our court usage page.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the chairman for further information.

latest news

Tennis For Kids - from 9am - 25th July to 1st August 2018: The club is running an LTA organised Tennis For Kids course running from 9am till 10am on weekdays between Wednesday 25th July and Wednesday 1st August. If we get oversubscribed we will run a second course on the same days running from 10am to 11am. Lessons are open to kids aged between 4 and 11. For just £25 every child will receive 6 high - quality lessons, developed by experts at the LTA, as well as a special Tennis for Kids Babolat racket, ball set, and personalised T-shirt delivered right to their door.Click here and enter Chilham in the Find a Course box to register. A great way for your kids to start the school holidays.

Open Day - 230pm to 430 pm - Saturday 21st July 2018: The club is holding its annual open day to allow non-members (adults and juniors) to have a go at tennis and see what a great game it is. The open day is part of the LTA Great British Tennis Weekend.Click here and enter Chilham in the Find and Book box to register. Its free, so why not have a go. And If you like it and want to join, it works out at less than £1 a week per person.

Coaching for local School Children: The club has repeated its initiative to encourage local school children to take up tennis and obtained funding from Chilham Parish Council and Kent Trust for Youth Sport. 38 schools kids from Chilham and Selling Primary Schools are attending a 4 week coaching course. The coaching is provided by Danny, our LTA Level 4 accredited coach.

Special General Meeting - 12th April 2018: As you know, the committee have been working very hard over the last couple of years to implement club improvement plans and keep you up to date with progress that has been reported and approved at all AGM since 2014.
As reported at the AGM last November, the recreation ground trust (our landlords) have agreed to the club expanding into the area currently occupied by the play area (which will be moved to a location closer to the car park and sports hall) providing space to add a third court and create a central recreational hub including a small clubhouse and a refurbished tennis wall. In addition, the existing courts will be resurfaced.
This improvement plan will cost in the region of £100k and will transform our club from a basic 2 court tennis facility into a well equipped tennis club and high quality rural community asset. It will meet current expectations of what a well run rural tennis club should be providing. This aspiration, and our plans to achieve it, have been very well received by funding bodies. All our grant applications have been successful and our funding shortfall is now less than £5k. We plan to fill this gap with further fundraising, donations and if necessary an increased contribution from club funds.
The committee is now in a position to submit a planning application and called a Special General Meeting on 12th April to present the proposed scheme.
This is a very exciting development for the club and it is unlikely that another opportunity to significantly improve our facilities will come along again for a considerable number of years. 29 members attended and gave the committee overwhelming support for its the plans it had drawn up on their behalf. Click here to read the draft minutes which will be presented for approval at the 2018 AGM.

Chilham Tennis Club is awarded the LTA TennisMark accreditation for the 4th year in a row:
This is very important news for the future the development of the club. A lot of work has been put in over the summer, especially by Pete Swan who spent a lot of time developing the club policy documents required by the LTA, our coach Danny for developing coaching programmes and advising the club on its youth policy, and Penny Rickards who attended a course and is now our Welfare Officer. Without the efforts of these club members the club would not have obtained the accreditation which essentially means that the LTA consider it a well run club.
Tennismark is a way of recognising good standards and best practice at tennis venues in Britain. It will enable the club to access funding that would otherwise not have been available and this will be important for the clubs future development. In the past we have been entirely self sufficient but to develop we need to supplement our own funds with grants that are available from the LTA, Sport England and others.

Annual General Meeting - 9th November 2017: The club held its AGM in Chilham Village Hall at 730pm on Thursday 9th November in Chilham Village Hall. All members were encouraged to attend, elect the committee and have their say in the future of the club. There was an important update on the clubs development plans for a third court and courtside building. Click here to read the draft minutes which will be presented for approval at the 2018 AGM.

Wine & Wisdom - Saturday 14th October: 15 teams pitted their wits against 10 rounds of cunningly crafted questions from quiz master Pete Swan. The Woolpack provided an excellent ploughmans style buffet for each table and Hopdaemon brewery donated a polypin of the popular local brew Incubus to help oil the memory wheels for those contestants with a penchant for real ale. After a closely fought contest, The Smileys emerged victorious for the second year with an average age that made it unlikely they could attribute any of their success to the Incubus. There was a well supported raffle and the club is very grateful to those that contributed prizes, especially the club member who donated a hamper brim full of a variety of alcoholic, sporting and clothing items. The club also thanks those that supported this years quiz and hopes they thoroughly enjoyed the evening. The funds raised all go towards maintaining and improving our facilities at the recreation ground. Save the date for next years quiz which will be on Saturday 13th October 2018.

Mixed Tournament - Sunday 24th September at 1pm: 10 pairs battled out the clubs mixed tournament and were arranged into 2 groups of 5 pairs who played each other in a round robin format. Following the tradition set in the June tournament, the groups were named after the clubs proud sponsors, Monin and BTF. The winners of each group then played in a Grand Final to decide this years winners of the Chilham Tennis Club Mixed Doubles Trophy. The final was tightly contested and Marion and Gregg led 3-1 after 4 games beating last years champions without the need for the tie break. Click here for the tournament results, report, photos and slide show.

Tennis Club Garden Party - Sunday 9th July: Liz and Penny arranged a late afternoon-early evening party in Penny's beautiful garden with wonderful views that stretch over to the woods at Blean on one of the hottest afternoons of the summer. Members brought a plate of food to share and a bottle of their own taste and there was also a polypin of Incubus donated by the local Hopdaemon brewery. Pete organised some fun "tennis related" games, there was an auction of promises with Will acting as auctioneer and a good sum was raised for the clubs development fund.

Mixed Tournament - Sunday 25th June: 10 pairs battled out the clubs mixed tournament and were arranged into 2 groups of 5 pairs who played each other in a round robin format. The groups were named after the clubs proud sponsors, Monin and BTF. The winners of each group then played in a Grand Final to decide this years winners of the Chilham Tennis Club and Woolpack shield. The final was a well contested and sporting affair despite a John McEnroe moment from Gregg which was dealt with very calmly by the umpire. With the score at 2 games all, the two teams entered the tie-breaker with all to play for. The tie-breaker swung both ways before Jo and Matt came back from 4-2 down to win 7-5. Click here for the tournament results, report, photos and slide show.

Free Junior Coaching for local School Children: The clubs new initiative to encourage local school children to take up tennis has exceeded expectations. Over 25 schools kids have been given the opportunity to try out tennis and gain the basic skills needed to enjoy the sport and continue playing. On the back on this, the club plans further coaching sessions to meet the demand generated and intends to run a similar free coaching course next summer. The coaching was provided by Danny, our LTA Level 3 qualified coach club, and was jointly funded by Kent Sport and Chilham Parish Council so that the course could be offered to the kids free of charge. Click here for the clubs media release.

The Ashes - Sunday 30th April: Bridge won the fourth Ashes Challenge regaining the trophy won by Chilham last year by a game score of 112 to 71. The event again involved an afternoon of mens mixed and ladies doubles using our courts and 2 more in the grounds of Chilham Castle. There was the traditional finger buffet and drinks in the Woolpack afterwards. The competition was extended to 16 players from each team and Bridge showed they had much better strength and depth with a convincing win. Undeterred, Chilham will practice hard over the coming year to fight again next year to win back the coveted trophy. As always, the club is extremely grateful that it is able to use the courts at the Castle for this event. Click here for the match results.

Club Development Plans: In line with club objectives agreed at its AGM in 2015 with regard to club development, the committee submitted 3 scheme proposals to Chilham Parish Council for funding from monies made available by Ashford Borough Council as a result of the Bagham Place development. The 3 schemes are:-
1) Courtside facility with kitchen area and disabled toilet;
2) Third court with markings for 2 mini-tennis courts;
3) 2 standalone mini-tennis courts.
The scheme proposals together with covering letter and factsheet can be downloaded from the following link ChilhamTennisClubSchemeProposals.
All 3 schemes were on display at the parish council community engagement exhibitions in March 2016. The committee has worked hard on behalf of the club to draw up these 3 proposals and believes they contribute towards a sustainable improvement plan for the club that will provide significant benefits to both current and future members.
All 3 proposals were supported by the parish council and an initial allocation of c£47k was earmarked against them. This equates to about 42% of the funds required.
The club has been working with the Recreation Ground Trust and has secured a means of progressing the 3 schemes. The club has been running fund raising events to complement the popular wine and wisdoms run each October and obtained grants from Kent Sport and Ashford Borough Council to make up the funding shortfall.

Monday Afternoons: A group of adult members currently play from 2pm and would welcome other members (male of female) joining them. Please contact Liz Baker on 01227 738102 for more details.

Wednesday Evenings: This mix-in session from 530pm is well attended but more members of al lstandards are always welcome. Please contact Liz Dear on 01227 752424 for more details.

Saturday Mornings: A mixed group currently play from around 930am and also invite other members to join them. Please contact Margaret Hart on 01233 740501 or Marion Mason on 01227 738068 for more details.

Ice on courts: Members are asked not to spread salt on the courts to defrost ice as this can seriously damage the court surface.

Chilham Primary School: The club has agreed to allow Chilham Primary School to use the courts between 1.45pm and 2.45pm on Wednesdays during the summer term. The club is keen to encourage kids at our local primary school to use our facilities at this weekly session, discover the game of tennis and maybe join the club as a result.